worldABLAZE: Schizophrenia and Abortion

In case you did not hear about this, a Massachusetts Judge ruled that a woman (and mother) suffering from mental illness (diagnosed as Schizophrenia and/or bi-polar disease) should have an abortion (of her five month old baby, who could most likely survive outside the womb at this point or within the next month, thanks to the beauty of medical advancements) and be sterilized.

I do not think I need to explain further why this is ludicrous. Fortunately, a higher court judge ruled that this was out of line. The first judge involved is reported to have ordered "to abort a mentally ill woman’s unborn baby and sterilize her — if it meant she had to be “coaxed, bribed, or even enticed ... by ruse” into the procedure."

You can read at your convenience the two articles linked to above. Below is an email letter that I wrote and sent to a number of representatives in the Massachusetts State Congress. They are representatives that work for the committees on mental health, family, ethics, etc...

If you want to copy/paste and edit the letter as you see fit, and send it to those same representatives, please feel free. The letter is below, and the email list is pasted under the letter.

Most of all, let us keep this mother in our prayers. No matter what, the illness she is suffering from is very hard to cope with, and unfortunately, for many people who do not know how to handle such a disease, the easiest way to cope is to treat the person with little compassion or dignity. This woman needs help, and not violence.

Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Dear Sirs and Madams,

I have been appalled at the recent discovery concerning the court order for "Mary Moe" that she would be forced to abort her child and be sterilized.

After some research on Mass.gov, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance Provider Manual Series defines a "mentally incompetent individual" as follows:

“Mentally Incompetent Individual — for purposes of 130 CMR 405.428 through 405.430, an

individual who has been declared mentally incompetent by a federal, state, or local court of

competent jurisdiction for any purpose, unless the individual has been declared competent for

purposes that include the ability to consent to sterilization.”

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/masshealth/regs-provider/regs-commhealthctr.pdf

I am deeply concerned that there is an exception for an "individual" that "has been declared competent for purposes that include the ability to consent to sterilization." This is subversive eugenics. There is no reason why any individual person who has been declared incompetent should then be declared competent for purposes such as consent to sterilization. No one who is in a state to be judged as incompetent is able to consent to such a procedure.

In your "Commonwealth of Massachusetts • Executive Office of Health and Human Services Sterilization Consent Form (Ages 21 and Older)" you include in two instances (the "person obtaining consent" and the "physicians consent") that “To the best of my knowledge and belief, the individual to be sterilized is at least 21 years old and appears mentally competent. He or she knowingly and voluntarily requested to be sterilized and appears to understand the nature and consequence of the procedure.”

Therefore, it is unreasonable to suggest that one who is mentally incompetent should also be judged "mentally competent" and "knowingly and voluntarily requested to be sterilized and appears to understand the nature and consequence of the procedure."

No one who is thought to be schizophrenic or even bipolar should be subjected to any kind of lasting decision such as that. It is absolutely inhumane to suggest that this woman would be capable of being responsible for such a decision. Rather, if she is able, through therapeutic and medical treatments, to regain her competency, she will discover her life drastically altered by something done to her, and she will not be able to hold anyone responsible but the State.

Further, to suggest that the court order an abortion for this woman is absolutely on par with all of the above reasoning. This is a child that she has conceived. The repercussions of such a procedure are often very debilitating for women (there are numerous medical journals and studies that support this, especially concerning PTSD), and it is illogical to suggest that someone who has been ruled "incompetent" could then support such a violence against herself. Moreover, while the court should not (and before God, does not) have the power to order any such penalty on two innocent lives (because that is a death order for her child and a dangerous health risk for the mother), the woman has asserted that such behavior goes against her religious beliefs. That should be even more reason for the court to keep its hands and laws off of her body in all ways.

Please forward this to the appropriate person(s) involved in this case. I beg of you to consider that this is life and death that we are discussing here. It is not simply the convenience or inconvenience of parents who have to deal with a daughter struggling with schizophrenia, or the convenience or inconvenience of the state who might have to support her in various ways. The individual life that is "Mary Moe" and the individual life of her child are both deserving of the care, support, nourishment and legal rights that every American citizen is given in the country, as well as the basic human dignity that is given by God. No one has the right to rob them of those things when they are innocent of any crime. Schizophrenia, or any mental illness, is a tragic disease, and one that should bring pity and mercy to the hearts of those around the victim, and not cruelty and murder.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

The email list I used is as follows:

worldABLAZE

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Schizophrenia and Abortion

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